N o v e l t y 新味
by The shy keyplayer
Summary: All she had was her paper cranes. And her headphones. And the memories of her past life, which had the potential of possibly leading everything in this particular universe to doom. She would... manage. (OC SI)


**Yay. Another SI. Probably shouldn't have done that but... meh.**

 **Disclaimer: IDON. That will be sort for 'I Don't Own Naruto'. Enjoy the wordplay.**

* * *

The day Shimamoto Sasaki was born, another life was lost.

The day Shimamoto Sasaki was born, the sky cried.

The day Shimamoto Sasaki was born, nobody cared.

* * *

" _I had no intentions of dying. Despite the sorry state my beloved country was in and despite hating school with every fiber of my being, I did not want to die. I had family who welcomed me home with open arms. I had friends who stood up to me and invited me to sleepovers . I was alive. But now I am not."_

* * *

The day Shimamoto Sasaki was born, the hospital had been in a bind.

The recent border skirmish between Konoha and Kumo had led to a high number of deaths. Those who escaped the clutches of death by a mere hair length were put in intensive care. Families and friends were not allowed to visit, for there were too many injured shinobi to keep track of who was family and who was not. Kumo had attacked them silently and they had not prepared themselves for it.

Most Iryō-nins were sent out onto the battlefield, since they were needed to patch up the shinobi who were still able to fight. Other iryō-nins who were assigned to the hospital, had the task to take care of the shinobi in the ICU. Therefore, it was no wonder that Shimamoto Reiko died of internal bleeding during birth. The woman was not able to hold her precious baby for the first time. The civilian medics had been too sleep-deprived to think and act properly. Not to mention there was nothing they could do, for they needed an iryō-nin to actually slow down the blood flow and give them time to calm the woman down before stopping the unhealthy amount of blood escaping her.

But they had more important things to think about than a mother who might have or might not have lived despite their advances. The baby was healthy, no abnormalities. The woman had been a civilian and had not come from any clan of importance. The child would be taken to one of the nearby orphanages and they might not see or hear from her ever again. She was just that- an unimportant orphan who would be shipped off to the academy as long as she was healthy and capable of serving the village. She was expendable. There would always be other children to replace her if something were to happen to her.

Frankly, nobody cared if the baby girl hysterically wailing in her hospital crib was an orphan or not. They had their own problems to deal with. Her father had been a shinobi, as it stood in their family records, and with any luck she would be one too. One more soldier to use and throw away.

The only thing that might have made the people worry, was when a rainy storm hit konoha all at once. The fierce wind was whistling, the rain was mercilessly pounding onto the roofs and blinding lightning thundered upon Konoha. Babies cried their lungs out and instinctively grabbed onto anything that could be of use. The nurses could not calm down the scared newborns. They were blindly flailing and crying in desperation.

All but one.

The nurses weren't sure if they should be worried that Shimamoto Sasaki had stopped wailing, and was soundly sleeping through the loud noises of rain and thunder.

* * *

Sasaki was not normal.

She knew that without anybody telling her.

Every night, with the exception of rainy days, the caretakers would be awoken by her ceaseless crying. She wouldn't stop, even when they'd get so desperate as to actually physically harm her. Nobody knew why the 6 months old toddler was restless on nights. She would flail and scream bloody murder, as if someone was shoving a knife right through her skull. The other children became sleepless because of her too.

They brought her to the hospital to solve whatever problem she could possibly have. The medics found no abnormalities whatsoever. Despite being as quiet as death itself when the sun was still out, she would scream and scream on rainless nights.

Seeing as the Iryō-nins were still on active duty and the civilian medics weren't capable of diagnosing whatever it was that made the small child so worked up, they decided to pay a visit to the only medic-nin they knew would be kind enough to help a child without demanding much money. To the outskirts of Konohagakure lay a small orphanage, run by none other than The Wandering Miko, otherwise known as Yakushi Nonō.

The renowned jōnin and former captain of the medic corps took one look at Sasaki and accepted their plea.

Without having to be told, Keiri and Kanpu activated the privacy seals and saw themselves out of the room. Urushi, Nonō's son, followed the caretakers, but not without taking an uncertain glance at his mother. The blonde woman gave him a reassuring smile. Fumi, Sasaki's usual caretaker, nervously handed the bundle in dark blue blankets over to Nonō. The green eyed woman balanced the dark haired infant in one arm and ran a glowing green hand over the small body. Sasaki watched the blonde woman with curious ember eyes.

Something seemed to change in Nonō's expression as she continued with the diagnostic jutsu. A small, disbelieving 'oh' escaped the woman's lips as the green chakra faded from her hands. Fumi, anxiously clutching at her dress, decided to ask what was wrong. "Is there anything you can do to cure her from this habit?"

Nonō, with a scowl on her lips, spoke. "I'm afraid that won't be possible."

Fumi frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Nonō-san... what do you mean?"

Heaving a sigh, as if the burden was too much to bear, the blonde woman regarded the toddler in her arms with concern. "This little lady here has a rather unusual case. Her chakra coils... they are fully developed."

The caretaker squinted, obviously not getting it. "Excuse me, but I don't understand. Is that a problem? And is there a way to cure it?"

She only got glared at by the prodigious medic. Did this woman not know anything about children's health? How had she gotten a job as a caretaker if she couldn't even understand simple terms like 'chakra coils' and 'fully developed' being in the same sentence? Having a job at an orphanage usually required having a basic understanding of chakra and the works- it was the caretakers' duty to report any chakra related abnormalities of a child to the hospital, so that the child could be checked.

Nonō wondered- what were the medics in the hospital even _doing?_ It was war time, yes, but that did not mean they could neglect the health of children. This child in particular- her condition was, frankly, more than just a little disturbing.

"She is 6 months old, correct?"

"Yes...?" Fumi mumbled, sounding unsure.

"Her chakra coils _should_ have still been in the development stage. The academy doesn't teach children chakra theory until they are 5, because their chakra coils aren't fully developed by then. Playing around with chakra with underdeveloped chakra coils is dangerous. One wrong move and there could be severe consequences. Deformity of chakra pathways, shutting down of the immune system because of chakra overload or never being able to utilize chakra ever again. Worst case scenario, the child could implode,"

At that, the wanna-be caretaker winced. That didn't deter Nonō from continuing her explanation- for she was a certified medic and like all health freaks, she could not stop once she started. "This girl, however, shows no signs of chakra-path deformity. Her immune system isn't infected in any way and her tenketsu are capable of handling the chakra flowing through them perfectly well. There are no tissue scars, no chakra burns- if I may ask, since when did she have these so-called problems you're speaking of?"

Fumi startled at the sudden change of topics, fumbling with her words. The blonde woman before her was considered a professional, one of the few prodigies in the medical field. The confidence she radiated as she spoke, the steady tone of her voice- her attitude belied her appearance. It made Fumi nervous, because she knew that she was the inferior one here. "...s-since she was picked up from the hospital. The nurses warned us about her condition and a few suggested her to be put down, but our matron would have none of that."

Nonō made a considering noise at that, smiling slightly at the baby in her arms as Sasaki proceeded to grab the woman's finger and examine it closely. "I see. I am... very fortunate to have seen something like this in my lifetime. To have a child born with fully developed chakra coils... it has never happened before. But, I am afraid to say, there is nothing _I_ can do about this problem."

An unsettled look crossed over Fumi's face. "Wh...why?" She asked, hesitant of listening to another tirade about medical facts. She hadn't understood a single word from what the blonde woman had explained to her.

"Her body is trying to adjust," the Miko continued, "but for what reason, I do not know. She is hyperaware of her own chakra and I believe she hasn't been able to get used to it. It is common for babies with large chakra reserves to be restless, because of the agitated buzzing of energy around them. Give her some time- she will be alright. As she sleeps, make sure to make some kind of noise to distract her of the unfamiliar feeling of chakra. That is why she likes the sound of rain- it gives her a pattern to follow."

The brunette woman nodded, gingerly taking Sasaki from Nonō's arms. She gave the medic a smile. "Thank you. The doctors of the hospital were too busy to care and our neigbours were starting to complain. We are truly grateful."

The Yakushi pursed her lips at that. So as long as they got rid of the problem, it was alright? "Yes, it was my pleasure. Please do not forget to visit me once a month. I would like to keep track of her progress."

Fumi stuttered at the weight of the Miko's stare. "O-of course. We will."

As Nonō watched the brunette woman leave with the curious ember eyed child, she could feel Keiri and Kanpu deactivate the privacy seals. Although this ordeal didn't necessarily have to be a secret, she knew that a certian man was following her every move. The children she raised, the children she saved, the general information of all of her patients- he had them all. And he could use them against her any time, if she dared to disobey.

But, despite all odds...

Taking off her glasses to wipe them on her sleeves, she sent a sideways look at Kanpu. Her green eyes were burning with the fire of curiosity, the pale moonlight giving them an eery gleam. "Do look for files on Shimamoto Sasaki, will you?"

* * *

Sasaki knew: she was not supposed to be here.

It took her a while to figure it out. As a baby, she was more often than not immobile. She would forget the faces of her caretakers and fellow toddlers within a few hours, her braincells not being able to properly store away memories yet. As she got older though, her facial recognition improved.

And so did her memory.

It was ridiculous- to be reborn. Sasaki had never thought of it as an option. She had certainly heard a lot about rebirth, yes. But that was mostly her buddhist friends talking. They had explained to her what it was, but they had never actually told her what to _do_ in such a situation. Sasaki, being the little muslim fucker she was, had not believed a single word. Instead of being a dick about it though (like some people she knew and despised), she had decided to humor them.

Well, look at what came out of _that._

Where was Allah? Where was the hell she had been told about? Where the fuck was heaven? She didn't have a clue, and it frustrated her. Everything she had been told up until now, everything she had learned about her culture and beliefs- were they all lies? Was that it?

She simply didn't know anymore.

Sasaki was in the phase of denial, but she also knew that she had to come to terms with this situation somehow. She couldn't keep crying over things she had no control over. Whining was not in her nature and she would much rather continue living without random bouts of depression.

This... this was just the way things were.

She had to get used to it.

She _had_ to let it go. Pull an Elsa and not give a fuck .

Seren Massoud was dead.

She was dead.

Dead.

 _And never coming back._

Somehow, the thought didn't bother her as much as it should have.

 _It was surprisingly easy not to care._

* * *

It was driving her _insane._

The constant buzzing just underneath her skin, the itching feeling in her limbs, the electricity jolting up her spine- it was as loud and annoying as ever.

Too.

Damn.

 _Loud._

She didn't know what the hell it was. She didn't know how to stop it. The noise drowned out her heartbeat and every other sounds around her. And all she could do was cry like a little bitch to make her anger known. What had she done to deserve this shit? What the fuck was wrong with her? Why were the dumb-ass adults around her just staring at her and mouthing gibberish to each other?

It was times like these she missed being in her older teenager body.

 _I want my body back, b'tch._

Usually, it was always that same brunette woman caring for her. Her name was... Fay? Fui? Fuki? Whatever. She would be the one always distracting her from those annoying buzzing sounds. Whenever she wasn't there, all Sasaki could do was inspect the cracks on the walls and watch everything around her with bored eyes to keep herself from flipping out. Inadvertently listening to private conversations? Check. Entertain herself by creeping the fuck out of other caretakers with unnerving wide eyes? Check. Watching a disaster just _waiting_ to happen in slow mo? Check.

Ooooh, that glass was dangerously close to the edge- aaaand orange juice everywhere.

All the other caretakers couldn't be bothered to babysit a nuisance such as Sasaki. Because yes, she was annoying as fuck. But hey, give her some slack- she still couldn't get used to the whole 'teen trapped in an infant's body' clishé.

How many people got to say that they'd went through rebirth? Obviously not many, because s _he_ had no intentions of every letting that small fact slip from her mouth. People would label her insane and ship her off to the nearest mental clinic. She expected the same mindset from other reincarnated peers too- unless they were some kind of crazy whacko tryna troll people, some poor guy in a 'no way out' situation or an attention seeking bitch.

On the matter of attention seeking bitch...

Four year old Mitarashi Anko was an example.

Well... how to go about this...

 _She_ was the reason Sasaki had almsot lost herself to an exsistental crisis. The moment she met the crazy woman- uh, girl? There was not much difference between her younger and older versions- she had felt like her brain had gone to overdrive.

What? Why? _How?_ All those questions swirling inside her head and forming a big fat ball of 'fuck this shit'.

How the _hell_ had she managed to slip through the cracks of cosmic recognition and landed herself in the _goddamn Narutoverse?_

Just... fuck. _Fuck._

"I WON AGAIN! EHEHEHEHE!"

"N-no- you cheated! I saw!"

And the crazy girl wasn't helping, stirring up trouble whenever she could. Currently, the Mitarashi was antagonizing a two year old Yūgao. Yes, Yūgao. The woman who had become some kind of tragic side character who nobody had seen or heard from again after Hayate's death. That one woman who had never actually gotten the chance to get revenge and had been shoved aside for more important things like filler episodes, her story and character development collecting dust at the background.

Ah, yes. _That_ Yūgao. She had probably died at some point in the fourth war, because there had been _no trace of her whatsoever after she had a (not so) epic flashback moment featuring her angst and regrets._

...Sasaki wasn't sure what to feel, looking at the cute purple haired toddler swiping at Anko in a feeble attempt to redeem her pride. Anko was a whole other story entirely- she was one of those bratty little shits playing pranks on people and being as annoying as humanly possible. Sasaki had to resign herself to the fact that she would never be as annoying as Anko was- the caretakers were _scared_ of the Mitarashi, for fuck's sake.

How many four year olds Sasaki knew could actually manage _that?_

Anko was also a sort of wake-up call. Sasaki's warning signals had gone off the moment a chibi with light brown, pupil-less eyes and spiky violet hair had shoved her face into her crib. The stranger had examined her closely, from her curly dark blue hair to her ember eyes and to the mole right on her lower lip.

And then, the four year old had promptly declared, "I, MITARASHI ANKO, WILL BE YOUR OWNER FROM NOW ON!"

Sasaki, with her one year old glory, hadn't understood what the hell that meant.

She guessed that it meant they were 'friends' in Anko language.

The violet haired girl would often sneak Sasaki out of her crib and force her to be a part of the pranks _she_ was responsible for. Fortunately, the ember eyed toddler was not the only one dragged along with the energetic Anko. Poor Yūgao with her quiet nature would often get dragged into it too.

At the end of the day, Anko would oftentimes come whining to _her_ about her problems, for reasons Sasaki could not fathom. Something about 'I'm gonna assume you're the same kind of person as me'. She didn't know what the eff that was supposed to mean but eh. Anko would complain, about what a little shit the Umino from next door to the orphanage was being, amongst other things, which Sasaki doubted would ever prove to be useful information in the future. She would just ramble, playing with a strand of the ember eyed infant's curly, dark blue tinted hair.

For Sasaki, it was hard to get used to... to, well, the new information she was receiving from a world she had previously thought was fictional. She hadn't known that Anko wasn't an orphan- her parents just didn't want her. She hadn't known that Yūgao was slightly shy and had an extreme fear of all sharp things.

She hadn't known that the highly irritating feeling she'd get from underneath her skin and from somewhere deep inside her belly, was _chakra._

Now, Sasaki was in no way blind to the things around her. She'd known that something was wrong with her, simply by noticing that she was the only infant who had such extreme reactions to... chakra. The word sounded foreign on her tongue, but it would be a term she would regularly use in the near future.

Why? Because no way in _hell_ was she going to go the safe way. She was one of those people with no self-preservation whatsoever. Becoming a civilian didn't have a cool cling to it like the word 'shinobi' did. She wanted excitement. She wanted novelty.

She just...

Wanted something _different._

This was _her_ life to decide, _her_ actions to act upon.

It was a blank canvas, just waiting for her to either color it with varying shades, or rip holes through the white expanse with a blunt kunai.

There were no parents to deprive her of her dreams this time around. No stuffy people sticking their noses into things that were not their business. No restricting rules, forbidding her from setting straight the same dipshits who dared to inconvenience her. She... didn't have to _care_ about morals here, did she? There was no one stopping her... She... wasn't Seren Massoud anymore.

And she intended to fully exploit that.

This was the _ninja world._

There _were_ no rules.

It was fair game.

* * *

The night Shimamoto Sasaki made her decision, the fate of several other lives was changed.

The night Shimamoto Sasaki made her decision, it rained again.

The night Shimamoto Sasaki made her decision, _they had no idea._

* * *

 **A/N: ...K. Now, let's get to the warnings for this story, shall we? Okay? Okay.**

 **1\. The updates will take long. They will. I shit you not. I'm supposed to be working on another story but here I am, writing _this._**

 **2\. I've already got some of this story planned out so... recommendations won't be really changing anything :/**

 **3\. 'Oh ma gawd. It's an SI. She has orange eyes and dark blue hair. She's got a mole too, woah, holy shit- she must be a mary-sue!' Um... No. Don't worry, she won't be flawless, as long as _I've_ got a say in this.**

 **4\. No Beta :D And critiques will be welcomed. If you have any questions, just PM me.**

 **5\. Sneaking a brief 'read, favorite, follow and review' here ;)**

 **6\. ENJOY. JUST ENJOY IT. ENJOYYYYYY.**


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